BLOOMINGTON – IU’s quarterback competition opened at a table on a raised stage Thursday morning inside Memorial Stadium’s Henke Hall of Champions. Ideally, it will close before the Hoosiers’ season opener Sept. 1 at Florida International.

No one at team media day would commit to much else.

All three candidates — graduate transfer Brandon Dawkins, redshirt sophomore Peyton Ramsey and true freshman Michael Penix — began the preseason on equal footing, literally, sitting side by side facing reporters’ questions ahead of the Hoosiers’ first practice Friday. They’ll spend the next month vying for the chance to restore a bowl-caliber offense in Bloomington this season.

“The competition certainly is strong, and the depth is better than it’s been,” quarterbacks coach Nick Sheridan said. “We’re looking forward to those guys working and earning it every day. It’s important that we give them all enough opportunities to show what they’ve been doing all summer, give them an opportunity to win over the team, and ultimately, make good decisions with the football.”

That’s about as specific as anyone would get Thursday when talking about the quarterback position. Whatever Sheridan, head coach Tom Allen and offensive coordinator Mike DeBord really think of those three candidates, they’re not sharing it publicly.

Indiana needs to settle on a new starter after losing Richard Lagow to graduation last season.

Lagow began and ended 2017 as IU’s No. 1 quarterback, and spent the middle third of the season supporting Ramsey from the sideline. An injury shelved Ramsey in November, but now, after an offseason to recover, strengthen his body and mature, he’s the longest-tenured member of the Hoosiers’ quarterback room.

“It was kind of a whirlwind for me, being thrown into it,” said Ramsey, who threw for 1,252 yards and 10 touchdowns last season. “A lot of my summer was focused on film study, looking at the defensive side of the ball, seeing how defenses position themselves so I can train my mind to think a little bit quicker.”

The only other scholarship holdover from spring practice is Penix, an early enrollee and the reigning Tampa Bay area offensive player of the year.

Indiana committed so much effort to luring Penix out of the Sunshine State — and away from fellow finalists South Florida and Florida State — that it sent five coaches to one in-home visit with the left-hander last offseason.

That, plus Penix’s prior relationship with DeBord and Sheridan during their time at Tennessee, handed the Hoosiers his commitment.

“I know certainly in the area he came from, the respect the high school coaches have for coach Allen definitely helped,” Sheridan said. “Obviously with coach DeBord and myself, our relationship with Mike and his parents, we’ve known Mike since he was 14 or 15 years old, so that certainly helped.”

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IU football director of athletic performance David Ballou speaks with reporters about the Hoosiers' approach to strength and conditioning.
Zach Osterman, zach.osterman@indystar.com

Dawkins is a mobile passer with two years’ experience starting at Arizona before his move to IU. He was the last of the three to arrive to campus this summer. Dawkins has been with the Hoosiers since the start of summer conditioning, which means the 6-3 signal caller has also participated in player-led passing work.

With three potential starters to sort through, Allen said Indiana’s staff plans to map out preseason practices in part to maximize snaps for each quarterback.

“I think we’ve gone through and structured practice accordingly, expanded certain drills to maybe have two separate groups going at the same time, so you can get reps, and get it on film,” Allen said. “As we plan, we go through these next several practices, we plan to get those guys a lot of reps.”

With a healthy again offensive line that returns every meaningful contributor from a season ago — and the capacity for all three quarterbacks to run the ball when needed — there’s confidence Indiana’s offense can take significant steps forward, after an inconsistent 2017.

“I don’t see why we can’t have one of the top offenses in not only the Big Ten,” Dawkins said, “but (all of) college football.”

Who will drive that offense? There’s probably not a more important question for the Hoosiers entering fall camp, and if Allen or his staff already think they know the answer, they aren’t telling.

Indiana’s quarterback competition is officially open. There’s no telling when it will close.

“I don’t want to put a time frame on it. I don’t want it to be all the way until the final day until we play,” Allen said. “We’re gonna have to let things play out as they do, throughout practice, and throughout fall camp.”